GOETHALS DOES IT AGAIN, ROSA SHOWS HIS STRENGTH AT NIKE INDOOR NATIONALS
By Chris Lotsbom
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
BOSTON (13-Mar) -- Megan Goethals has done it again. Her finishing
kick has won yet another national title, this time at the Nike Indoor
Nationals at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center.
Goethals, the 17 year-old senior from Rochester, Mich., put in a
massive surge with about 100 meters to go in the two mile, ultimately
catching Chesterfield, Missouri's Emily Sisson for first place. The
race was a near replica of her performance at the 2009 Foot Locker
National Cross Country Championships where Goethals won by 7/100ths of
a second, all of which was gained in the final meters.
From the gun, the lead pack of Goethals, Sisson, New York state 3000m
champion Aisling Cuffe, and Virginia's Joanna Stevens took the lead,
breaking away from the rest of the field. After passing through the
half mile in 2:32.2, the pack began to string out behind Sisson.
Hitting the mile in 5:03, Sisson had increased her lead to about 10
meters. Behind her, Goethals, Cuffe, and Stevens were together,
working to try and reel in the Wisconsin-bound Sisson, who placed
second in the junior division at the USA Cross Country Championships
last month.
Not until 600m to go would anyone come anywhere close to Sisson who
still had a margin of about five meters. That's when Goethals, about
to be passed by Cuffe, surged.
"When I was hurting, I thought of how amazing it felt when I passed
[Chelsey Sveinsson] at Foot Lockers and how satisfied I was," said
Goethals. "That's what kept me going."
Also going through her mind was what she would have to say to her
future coach at the University of Washington, Greg Metcalf, if she did
not win.
"I did not want to tell Coach Metcalf, 'Oh yeah, I kind of fell behind a little and got third.'"
It ended up coming down to the final meter, where Goethals barely
out-leaned Sisson, beating her by seven one-hundredths of a second,
10:10.14 to 10:10:21. With her time, Goethals takes over the meet
record, which was set by Jordan Hasay one year ago.
"I was so happy because 10:10 was the goal I had set for myself at the
beginning of the season for the 3200m. That's ten seconds faster than
I ran at Nike Outdoors last year."
Behind, Goethals and Sisson were immediately followed by Cuffe and
Stevens in 10:11.65 and 10:12.21, respectively. All four set personal
bests.
Goethals's goal now is to gear up for her outdoor season, where she
will go for her third national championship of the year at the
newly-named New Balance National Outdoor Championships.
On the boy's side, the two mile was owned by junior Jim Rosa of
Plainsboro, N.J. Taking control after about 800m, Rosa passed through
the mile in 4:31.4 and never looked back. Finishing in 9:00.36, Rosa
won his first national title.
When asked if he was a little disappointed that he couldn't crack the
9-minute barrier, Rosa said: "It's a national championship, I can't be
disappointed at all. It was a great way to end the season, before this
point [the season] was pretty awful."
Finishing second and third were Jake Hurysz of North Carolina in 9:02.29 and Clint McKelvey of Tennessee in 9:06.59.
Other Meet Highlights included...
In the rarely run 4 x mile relay, Kinetic RC (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.)
ran 20:15.06, the fourth-fastest time ever indoors. Made up of Brianne
Bellon, Amanda Borroughs, Keelin Hollowood, and Margaret MacDonald, the
team won by a margin of nine seconds. The night before (Friday), the
same Kinetic team won the distance medley relay in a meet record of
11:38.60.
Kinetic RC's New York counterpart, Manlius TC (Fayettville-Manlius,
N.Y.), ran a blazing 4 x 800m women's relay, finishing with the
tenth-fastest time ever, 9:02.80. On Manlius's anchor leg, the
sophomore Katie Sischo ran a strong 2:11.5 split, all alone in the lead.
"I saw my teammates out there killing it. I just wanted to do it for them," said Sischo.
The men's 4 x mile was won by Blacksburg Track Club in a time of
17:45.63, and the distance medley relay by Hamden Track Club in
10:07.58.
On Friday, the men's 5000m was won in 14:19.82 by Kirubel Erassa, a
senior from Grayson Track Club. His time breaks Brad Hudson's 26
year-old Senior record, which was 14:29.80. The women's 5000m was won
by junior Linds Crevoiserat of Glastonbury Track Club.
The meet will conclude on Sunday, as the mile and 800m finals will be run, in addition to many sprint and field events.
|
|
|
Runner's World &
Running Times
Combined Only $22
a Year
Save $87
Running & Track and Field Posters
Great Running Shoe Deals Nike Lunar Glide $79.99 A very popular innovative Nike shoe on sale now.